Paideia to Pedantry: The Dissolving Relationship of the Humanities and Society

Abstract

The changing relationship of humanist education and society may be traced through historical changes in the relationship of formal education to technical writing. Technical writing with its intrinsic social purposes provides a powerful metaphor for the needs of society, and the resistance of the modern English department to applied writing provides evidence of the growing separation of society and the humanities. From classical philosophies of education through the humanist movement of the Renaissance, education was committed to the development of ideal leadership. Both classical and Renaissance humanists were epistolographers and public orators, meeting the needs of their societies. Modern humanists focus on the individual and the text. While Western culture from ancient Greece to the Renaissance educated citizens to specific service in society, the modern humanities are failing to combine utility with the preservation and creation of knowledge. Teachers should emulate the humanities of the past and teach writing as a social force in technology, politics, and business.